The following weeks passed Hermione in a daze. She couldn't stop thinking about Draco, yet was determined to keep the secret. They had not spoken after the 'incident', and there hadn't been any other assassination attempts, so she hoped he had ceased his quest. Sometimes she caught him staring at her, this puzzled look on his face, though it had only been two or three times. She had made a point of not sitting down facing the Slytherin table. Watching him only made her heart ache worse.

She sought her distractions in the library – she had finally found a real clue as to who the Half-Blood Prince might be – and her friends, which was always to great displeasure of Lavender. Though yesterday she and Ron had split up when she had seen the two of them exit the boys dormitory, unbeknownst to her Harry had been there as well, hidden beneath the invisibility cloak, but Ron hadn't thought to correct her. Lavender and Parvati hadn't stopped giving her these venomous looks since and Hermione wondered if it would stay by looks alone.

There was was the incident with Dobby and Kreacher who Harry had set on trailing Draco. Apparently Draco had been entering the Room of Requirement rather frequently. She couldn't stay angry with Harry long because she knew Harry was right, but she couldn't bear listening to his constant speculations. He had taken to patrolling in front of the Room of Requirement wearing his invisibility cloak, but to no avail.

What wasn't going smoothly either was her search for information on Horcuxes. She had gotten a permission note from Professor - to search the restricted section, but nothing … just nothing.

That morning during charms Harry gave them a full account of what had happened last night after he had taken the Felix Felicis. She shot him a disapproving look when he mumbled 'muffliato' and waved his wand to the people around him, she despised the fact he was still using the Half-Blood Prince's potions book. Harry told them about Aragog's funeral and his encounter with Professor Slughorn. He had gotten the memory from him and brought it to Professor Dumbledore, after which they had viewed the memory together. She gasped when Harry told her about the Horcruxes, anxious to run to the library as soon as possible.

"Wow," Ron said, when Harry had finished telling his story; he was waving is wand vaguely at the ceiling without paying attention to what he was doing. "Wow… You're actually going to go with Dumbledore … and try and destroy… wow."

"Ron, you're making it snow," Hermione said and patiently grasped his wrist, pulling his wand away from the ceiling. She hastily let go when she noticed Lavender's red rimmed eyes glare at her from a neighbouring table.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry." Hermione started vigorously brushing the snow of her own shoulders when Ron made an attempt to do so for her. She nodded meaningfully in Lavender's direction and he seemed to get the hint too late, the poor girl had already burst into tears. Ron looked immensely guilty and turned his back to her. In a whispering voice he proceeded to tell Harry – who had been following it with questioning eyes - about their breakup.

After Charms they walked back to the common room together. Hermione instantly noticed the small group of seventh-years clustered together and when a rather bulky boy moved was she able to discover the focus of the attention.

"Katie! You're back! Are you OK?" she cried and moved towards her. It took the boys a little more time before picking up the clues but when they did they promptly started talking about Quidditch with her. The match against Ravenclaw was in a few weeks and they needed to win by three hundred points to get an actual advantage. Only after the group dispersed did Harry move a little closer to Katie and dropped his voice to a low whisper. Hermione, who immediately knew what he was up to, froze and listened closely.

"… that necklace, can you remember who gave it to you, now?" he asked.

"No," said Katie apologetically. "Everyone's been asking me, but I haven't got a clue. The last thing I remember was walking into the ladies at the Three Broomsticks." Even though she knew it was wrong Hermione let out a sigh of relief.

"You deffinitely walked into the bathroom then?" Hermione asked, just to be sure. She hadn't seen Draco enter the bathroom, how had he gotten that necklace to her?

Katie nodded and excused herself to go to class, she said she wouldn't put it past Mcgonagall to give her lines even though it was her first day back.

Both lost in their own thoughts Harry and Hermione walked over to the window table at which Ron had sat down already.

"So it must have been a girl or a woman who gave Katie the necklace," she said, "to have been in the ladies, I mean."She knew she was grasping at straws here, but Dumbledore had explicitly told her not to tell Harry and Ron about Draco. She hated keeping secrets from her best friends, yet lately they seemed to pile up, somehow.

Harry was already attempting to discredit her argument by reminding them of the stolen Polyjuice potion. Though she wasn't really paying attention and retrieved the Spellman's Syllabary from her bag.
"And don't go wasting Felix," she warned him before diving into her homework, "luck can only get you so far."

It was a few days before the match Gryffindor – Ravenclaw, meaning the whole school was buzzing with excitement and Filch had his hands full chasing down students hexing others. Hermione had just returned from Professor Vector - who had assured her that the mistake she had made was so tiny it would have no actual influence on her overall grade - and was now looking for Ron. Nervous as he got before big games she had promised to walk to dinner together.

"Hey Luna," she turned to the girl who passed her in the hallway, "Have you seen-"

"Oh, yes, he just entered the boys bathroom. Goodbye Hermione," she said and darted off. Was Hermione going crazy or did Luna look a little more dreamily than normal? And what was going on with those radishes in her ears? Shaking her head Hermione walked towards the boys bathroom, she rather hoped Ron wasn't retching his organs out again, the poor boy. Without much thought she pushed open the door, she wanted to call his name but the sound stuck in her throat. She was just in time to duck for the curse flying her way.

Between all the screaming and the lights and the water spewing form several faucets she couldn't help but be reminded of that very unfortunate encounter with that troll in first year. Her first instinct was to duck and crawl away into safety, but she knew from experience that didn't always work out well.

"Hermione, watch out!" She saw Harry standing across of the room, his lips moving but she got his meaning too late. The lights had stopped shooting and a second later Myrtle stopped screaming. Only the water remained shooting every way, her clothing already soaked. When she tried to take a step backwards she bumped into someone. Her back against his chest, his arm loosely draped around her neck and his wand still pointed at Harry. "Draco," she whispered. Oh, how she had longed to be with him, every night she had missed him, and now…

Now Harry was starring at her, his eyes wide in concern for her. "Let her go, Malfoy," he spat, his wand at the ready and his body tense, like a cat ready to jump.

"It's okay Harry, he won't hurt me," she tried to tell him, but it was as if her words flew past him. His eyes were now locked with Malfoy's, ready to continue their fight. And when she tugged Draco's arm she found he too was lost in the spirit of battle.

Myrtle started to scream, again, scaring everyone into action. Draco pushed Hermione aside and shot another curse at Harry. Harry managed to block it just in time but slipped on the wet floor.

"Cruci-"

"SECTUMSEMPRA," Harry bellowed from the floor, wildly waving his wand.

Blood spurted from Draco's face and chest, as if he had been cut by an invisible sword. He staggered backwards and collapsed onto the waterlogged floor with a great splash, his wand falling from his limp right hand.

Hermione watched it all happen in front of her. Slipping and staggering she plunged down next to Draco, whose face was now shinning scarlet, his white hands scrabbling at his blood soaked chest.

"No-" she heard Harry gasp.

"Get a teacher," she cried, taking Draco's face into her hands. He looked at her with panic in his eyes, pleading for the pain to stop.

"No- I didn't..." Harry stumbled towards the door, his back against the wall. She had no time to deal with him now, nor with Myrtle who was screaming murder.

"Draco, Draco, look at me," she wiped the bloody strands of hair from his face. "It's going to be okay, I promise," she said, her voice broke and tears were streaking down her face.

Roughly she got pushed aside by Snape, who knelt next to Malfoy and started tracing his wand over the deep wounds Harry's curse had made while muttering incantations. She barely noticed Harry as she followed Draco, who was leaning heavily on Snape, to the hospital wing, his wand in her hands. Only when Snape stopped and said in a voice of cold fury, "And you, Potter… you wait here for me," did she look into Harry's miserable and guilt stricken face. But for once she could not pick his side.

After quickly explaining Madam Pomfrey what had happened did Snape leave the hospital wing to deal with Harry. Hermione stood forgotten in a corner while Madam Pomfrey applied essence of Dittany to all the pink lines crossing Malfoy's face and chest.

"Hey," his hoarse voice woke her from her thoughts and she stealthily approached his bed. Madam Pomfrey had disappeared back into her office.

"Hey," she managed a small smile in return. Not knowing what else to do she placed his wand on his bedside table. As she pulled back he grabbed her hand, and she looked up in surprise. All the uncertainty and confusion had disappeared from his eyes and he pulled her a little closer.

"I'm sorry," she said, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry too," he replied, and she saw something of that spark back in his eyes. He moved over and tapped on the place besides him. The bed was most certainly not made for two people but she jumped on anyway and nestled herself against his chest. And they sat for a while, just like that. Enjoying each others presence that had been so cruelly denied for so long. Hermione listened to Draco's heartbeat, thankful she was still able too. Draco was playing with Hermione's frizzly curls, thinking of how many birds she could house in it and grinning widely. Dinner time passed and the sun was slowly setting behind the trees of the Forbidden Forest when Hermione stirred.

"I should go, Madam Pomfrey has been eyeing us for a while, I'm afraid she'll throw me out soon," she joked, but she wasn't smiling, not truly. She knew what it meant if she left now.

Draco nodded slowly and continued wrapping one of her curls around his fingers.

"You know this has to stop, don't you." She closes her eyes, she did know.

"Just take care of yourself, Draco," she said quietly, afraid her voice might leave her again. She turned to face him and pressed her lips softly on his. This will be the last time, she told herself.

"And please don't hate Harry too much, he didn't know," she said before leaving Draco behind, his heart ripped to pieces and hers barely holding it together.

When she entered the Gryffindor common room she was furious. Furious at Harry for still defending the Half-Blood Prince and furious at Ron and Ginny for defending Harry. But mostly she was furious at herself, for everything.

That night she got tormented by dreams of waking up in a pool of blood and finding Draco's dead body next to her. Voldemort was standing in the room, loudly laughing as he moved about a puppet version of Harry, the strings connected directly to his fingers. Nagini circled around her legs swallowing the little night lamp she had had as a child leaving everything in darkness, she was falling. With a startle she woke up, feeling around for Draco, who was nowhere to be found. She went to sit up and pulled her knees to her chest which received a loud protest from Crookshanks who had been sleeping on her legs. She took the red cat in her arms and hid her face in his fur.

"At least I've still got you."